Matthew Wolff made a 26-foot putt from the fringe for an eagle on the final hole to win the 3M Open at 21 under par on Sunday, beating Collin Morikawa and Bryson DeChambeau by one stroke in a tense finish to the first-time PGA TOUR event.
The 20-year-old Wolff struck his second shot on the 573-yard, par-five hole from the fairway to the far left of the green where it landed just a few feet away from a bunker. He sank the dramatic putt in front of a packed 18th gallery at the TPC Twin Cities, before waiting to watch Morikawa just miss his eagle attempt from 22 feet.
A 73 dropped Dylan Frittelli down into a share of 46th place
When the ball rolled on the left edge and about three feet too long, Morikawa winced as Wolff hugged his caddie in celebration of the $1.152-million prize and his TOUR card just six weeks after winning the NCAA individual title with Oklahoma State.
‘I’m really not an emotional guy, but tears came to my eyes,’ Wolff said.
DeChambeau, playing directly in front of the Morikawa-Wolff pair, had just finished his up-and-down afternoon with an eagle to take the short-lived lead at 20 under. The lively crowd, which went five rows deep behind the ropes near the final green, roared when DeChambeau crushed his second shot 204 yards from the intermediate rough on to the green within six feet of the pin. The world’s eighth-ranked player sank that putt for one of the seven eagles on 18 during the final round in yet more humid, wind-free conditions. DeChambeau, who had two of his three bogeys in the tournament on Sunday, figured he was headed for a playoff as he walked off.
‘I had no idea he would make that putt,’ DeChambeau said, adding: ‘It’s so competitive now. Anyone can win on any week. It’s absolutely impressive.’
Playing in just his third tournament as a professional, all on sponsor exemptions, Wolff successfully fended off a steely finish by Morikawa, who also turned pro this summer after leaving Cal. The 22-year-old Morikawa, whose putt for birdie on the 17th hole barely horseshoed out, flashed Wolff a warm smile as the two embraced on the green. The pair of rookies shared the lead with DeChambeau after the third round at 15 under.
‘The way we were playing today, it was going to go in. One of us was going to drop one in,’ Morikawa said, adding: ‘I hit a really good putt. I thought it was good from the start and once it got about halfway I knew it was a little low. What can you do?’
Canadian Adam Hadwin was fourth at 18 under. Carlos Ortiz finished in a tie for fifth with Wyndham Clark at 17 under after using seven birdies, including three of the last four holes, to shoot a 64. Ortiz, a native of Mexico still seeking his first tournament victory as a pro, had missed the cut in seven of his previous 10 events.
Lucas Glover landed in a six-way tie for seventh place at 16 under, after teeing off four hours before the Morikawa-Wolff group. He posted a best-of-the-round 62, the fourth golfer in as many days here to reach nine under. Glover, who won the US Open in 2009 for one of his three PGA TOUR victories, racked up 10 birdies to solidify his fifth top-10 finish of the season. He said he’d watch the rest of the round from the couch, rather than sticking around to see if his top score at the time would beat the odds and hold up.
Tom Lehman, who led the redesign of this course about 20 miles north of Minneapolis that hosted a PGA TOUR Champions event from 2001-18 in the process of lengthening and strengthening it for the bigger hitters on golf’s main stage, posted his first over-par round of the tournament (73). The 60-year-old native of Minnesota finished at seven under for the week, one stroke better than Brooks Koepka.
Koepka, who began the event second in the FedEx Cup standings behind Matt Kuchar, never found a groove this week and posted his second 72 of the event.
